Sunday, July 4, 2021

A Fright in the Morning

This morning gave me a bit of a shock. I had decided to perform curves on my sugar-boys, Tucker and Neville, today. Starting at six, I took blood samples from them, starting with the Nevsky, and read them in the glucometer. What startled me was Tucker’s: it was 1.8.

The ideal blood-glucose reading is between eight and four. Three is approaching worrisome territory, and two is a danger. Back in March, I took a reading from the roly poly just after I had given him insulin. It was 3.2, and dropped to 2.2 with the effects of insulin. Now, he was below that. I knew that the reading was very likely an accurate measurement because the one I had taken from Nev earlier had put him at 15.9, not far from his other starting points.

I wondered how many times recently had Tucker been so low without my knowledge, yet I had given him his usual dose of insulin? He had survived all of those instances, if there had been any, and this time, of course, I gave him no insulin. This, combined with his behaviour, which in no way indicated trouble, determined that I would not call the animal hospital, as I had in March; without insulin, the Tuckster’s numbers would probably not diminish, and with treatment, they would go up.

I rubbed corn syrup onto his gums several times and gave him food to eat. Fortunately, he was hungry, not having eaten through the night, and I gave him Temptation Treats and also the lower-grade food I provide for the outsider-cats (most of which is stolen by birds) which, as is the way with cheap food, apparently tastes better than the better grade. This prompted Tucker to eat more.

An hour later, Tucker’s blood-glucose number was 2.9, and I felt confident. By nine o’clock, it was 3.4 and at eleven, well on its way to a reading that would be normal if uninfluenced by insulin. Indeed, by the late afternoon, it was 22.1: high, but usual for that time of day, just before his dose of medicine.

I have no idea what may have contributed to such a fall in his blood-sugar rating. Simply not eating through the night would not do it; he usually starts the day with a high number, for which the normal amount of insulin is injected at the normal time. Most factors in a diabetic cat’s life contrive to raise the numbers, not lower it; a diabetic’s numbers are, by the nature of the condition, high.

Also by the nature of the condition, I have discovered, is the often irregular and confounding state of a diabetic’s blood-sugars. Taking readings every day is practicable but not, I think, practical, given the amount of punishment that would be inflicted on a cat’s ears over a short period of time. However, for the next few days, at least, I will be checking Tucker’s numbers in the mornings before any insulin is administered. It will give me peace of mind while I am at work, and Tucker some safety while he is at home.

21 comments:

  1. I'm so glad things worked out and you were able to bring Tucker's blood sugar back up to where it belonged. Diabetes is such a hard disease to control. I had a similar problem with my Jeremy years ago. Eventually, the vet had me check his blood sugar every morning before I would give him his insulin, and the amount of insulin I would give him depended on the blood sugar result.

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  2. You do such a good job Dr John. Glad Tucker is fine.

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  3. Tucker is lucky to have yo looking after him so well :0
    Purrs, Julie

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  4. That was an alarming scare for you. I'm glad you were able to get Tucker's number back up to safe. You have not about this for a while since Portia has been entertaining us. But I've certainly been wondering how the other 3 are doing. I hope things settle back tap it normal for Tucker.

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  5. Oh, gosh, scary indeed! I'm glad Tucker is okay. Sending lots of healing vibes (and purrs from Derry) to you both.

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  6. Thank goodness you had decided to perform a curve that morning. I am glad you were quickly able to get his numbers back to a satisfactory level. It is a puzzle why they suddenly dropped so dramatically though.

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  7. That is SCARY! NO other word for it. Thank goodness you discovered it. I wish there was a way to know the how's and why's of this condition more thoroughly. I wish too that he could have that new device that you were lent for a time, that measures the sugar in a manner that doesn't require pricking the ear, (if I recall it correctly).

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    1. That little monitor would be very useful, especially at such times as Tucker went through on Sunday, but the monitors are expensive and they last only two weeks. I would need one permanently attached to the roly poly to be of any good.

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  8. Scary to have your day start like that! Hope his numbers are better the rest of this week.

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  9. What a confounding mystery!
    Hope that doesn't happen again.

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  10. I can imagine what a shock that must have been. I know from friends who are diabetic how tricky it is to keep blood sugar levels stable; it must be even more difficult with cats. I'm glad to hear he's OK now.

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  11. Oh my, that would be very worrisome. Good thing you checked it - cat dad intuition. Hopefully this was just an anomaly that won't reoccur any time soon.

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  12. That is low. Stress can raise blood sugar so the only thing maybe he looked like he ate the normal the day before and didn't. Hope he gets back on track as this can be a difficult problem

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    1. Tucker’s eating is good right now. He’s still on Mirtazapine, albeit a low dose, and I notice when he doesn’t eat. And even so not eating wouldn’t drop it that low for this boy, especially before having any insulin. You’re right about stress, and if Portia’s advent is causing any - and it’s probably contributing some - it would increase Tucker’s numbers. Fortunately, yesterday evening, his numbers were the usual, and this morning, he was in the high teens, also more normal.

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    2. Glad to see current news of his numbers here this morning

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  13. How scary! We're glad Tucker is doing better.

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  14. That is very scary. I am glad he is OK.

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  15. catfather ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ YOW dood.....we iz buzzed happee yur doin better and we wood bee buzzed happee if thiz dinna happen again; we noe dad wood bee mor N buzzed....heerz hopin dad findz out de whyz.....st francis' blessings dood...♥♥♥

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  16. That is so scary! We are really glad Tucker is doing better!

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